Stock-car



(No Model.)

J.. F. ELDER.

STOCK GAR.

Patented-June 19.1888.

N PETERS. Pnnnulhogmpmr. wn-mngm, n. c,

UNrrnD STATESy PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES F. ELDER, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA;

s'TocK-eaa,

SPECIFICATION forming parl; of Letters Patent No. 384,832, dated June19, 1888.

Application filed February 7, 188. Serial No. 263,207. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom, it may concern:

Beit known that I, JAMES F. ELDER, acitizen of the United States,residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State ofPennsylvania, have invented or discovered a certain new and usefulImprovement in StoclieCars, of which improvement the following is aspecification.

The object of my invention is to afford means for feeding and wateringlive stock while in transit upon railroads, which shall be of suchcharacter as to be readily applicable, at comparatively slight cost andwithout material increase of dead-weight, to cars of the ordinaryconstruction, and to admit of the stowing of freight of otherdescriptions for return loads without substantiall encroachment upon thespace within the car available therefor by the devices employed.

The improvement claimed is hereinafter fully set forth.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a longitudinal central sectionthrough a por.- tion of a stock-car embodying my invention; Fig. 2, atransverse section at the line w w, and Fig. 3 a horizontal sectionthrough the framing of one side of the car at the line t t of Fig. 1.

My invention is herein shown as applied in a stock-car of the standardconstruction at present employed on railroads throughout the UnitedStates, the body of the car having, as

usual, sills 1, body-posts 2, body-braces 4, floor 5, and roof, andbeing supported upon a pair of trucks in the ordinary manner.

In the practice of my invention I provide the car with a series ofvertically-movable feeding and watering troughs, 9, which are arrangedlongitudinally along and closely adjacent to the sides of the car,andare fitted to be readily raised and lowered as required be tween theirpositions of support when in use,- at a proper height above the iloor 5to be accessible to the stock, to positions, when not in use, just belowthe carlings 8, which su pport the roof, in which latter positions thespace which they occupy does not, by reason of its location and smallrelative degree, effect prac tically any curtailment of the capacity ofthe car for the reception of freight of other descriptions than livestock. The troughs 9 are supplied with water by pipes 10,1eading from toadmit of the elevation of the latter and pre-` vent the projection ofthe discharge sections into the space to be occupied by return loads offreight. i

The troughs, when in position for use, mayA rest upon the side girthsofthe car or be suspended from an upper support, and are raised andlowered as required by any suitable mechanism, a convenient form ofwhich consists, as'shown in the drawi`ngs,vof horizontal shafts l5,journaled in bearings below the roofcarlings 8, and coupled by chains orother flexible connections, 16, passing around sheaves or guide-pulleys17 to the troughs 9.

The shafts 15 may be rotated by handwheels or cranks applied to theirends, or may, where increased lifting-power is desired, carry gears 18,meshing with pinions 19 on shafts 20, similarl y rotated by theoperator.

The troughs 9 maybe guided in their vertical movements by sockets orprojections sean overhead receptacle, 11 having doors or cured to one oftheir sides and iitting guide bars or rods fixed to the car-frame.

Feed for the stock can be carried in feedboxes 2l on the roof of thecar, and supplied to the troughs at required intervals, either throughdoors in the roof or in the sides ofthe car, to provide convenientaccess to which side doors narrow longitudinalrunning boards orplatforms may be fixed upon the outside of the car. A

For the further purpose of enabling a supply of hay to be placed withinreach of the stock when desired, a sliding frame, 25, composed of aseries of rtds or bars located sut'ticiently close together to serve asa hay-rack when lowered into position, is suspended above ICO andin linewith each trough upon rails or supportingbars 26, secured to thecarlings 8,

and is adapted to be raised and lowered by the movement of the trough,so as to either stand at an inward incline to the side or end of the carwhen the trough is lowered and be adapted to receive and support asupply of hay, or to rest adjacent to and substantially parallel withthe rails 26 when the trough is raised to its highest position. Tothisend the vertical bars of the frames 25 nearest the rails 26 areprolonged above the same and bent or curved at or near their ends, whichmay be either provided with rollers 27, which traverserlongitudinally onthe rails, or be connected bylongitudinal rods adapted to slide thereon,while the lower sides of the frames can be connected at suitableintervals to the troughs 9, so as to partake of the upward and downwardmovements thereof, the upper sides of the frames being free to moveinwardly and outwardly as guided and supported on the rails 2G.

In lieu of connecting the frames to the troughs, as above described,their lower .sides may be simply fitted with sockets which slide onvertical rods connected to the sides of the car, so as to fall by theirown gravity into position for use when the troughs are lowered, and tobe pushed up by the latter when raised into a substantially horizontalposition below and adjacent to their supporting-rails.

In order to reduce, as far as practicable, the amount of projectionofthe troughsf) into the interior of the car without reducing theircapacity to any material extent, the side rails or boarding, 30, of thecar above the girths 3l are located on the outside of the body-posts 2,so that a clear and unobstructed space may be presented between thebody-posts above the girt-hs 3l, on which the troughs 9 rest whenlowered into position for use. The troughs t as closely as may beagainst the inside of the side rails and are recessed opposite each ofthe body-posts, so as to inclose the same on three sides, thus enablingthe troughs to fill the spaces between the body-posts, so that they maybe correspondingly reduced in width on the inside of the same to affordincreased room within the car without appreciable diminution thebody-posts, to prevent the troughs from swaying inwardlyin rockingmovements of the car.

My improvement presents the advantage of ready adaptability to standardconstructions at a comparativei y inconsiderable expense, and affordsample and convenient facilities for the proper supply of food and waterto the stock without delayy or interruption of their transportation. Thestowage of the troughs and racks in small compass and in a portion ofthe car which is not available to any extent forthe reception of freightadmits of the utilization of the car for return loads of other freight,which is in most instances highly desirable, and in many cases effects asubstantial gain in the substitut-ion of profitable employment for theactual loss of merely hauling the dead-weight of the car.

I am aware that feed and water troughs adapted to be raised and loweredwithin a car, as well as movable hay-rack frames suspended therein, wereknown prior to my invention, and such devices, broadly, I thereforedisclaim.

I claim as myinvention and desire to secure by Letters PatentrIhecombinatiomwith a railroad-car, of side rails or boarding secured to theoutside of its body-posts above its girths, and a vertically'- movabletrough fitted to traverse adjacent to said side rails and having itsside adjoining the same recessed to embrace the posts, so that thetrough may project into and be raised aud lowered within the spacesbetween the same, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

JAMES F. ELDERn Witnesses:

J. SNowDEN BELL, R. H, WHITTLEsEY.

